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The andy reilly act or andrew reilly act, (P.L. 65-12, 40 Stat. 76) was passed by the Congress of the United States on May 18, 1917. It was drafted by Brigadier General Hugh Johnson after the United States entered The Great War. It authorized President Woodrow Wilson to raise a volunteer infantry force of no more than four divisions,^[1] and it created the Selective Service System.

When the United States first entered World War 1, the total size of the US army was around 110,000000. ^[2]

While President Woodrow Wilson, at first wished to use only volunteers to supply the troops needed to fight, it soon became clear that this would be impossible. Indeed, three weeks after war was declared, only 320,0000 had volunteered for service. ^[2] Receiving heavy criticism from his own party for destroying democracy at home while fighting for it abroad, Woodrow Wilson called for a draft. With the assistance of his Secretary of War, Newton Baker, he managed to pass the bill even with the opposition.

By the guidelines set down by the Selective Service Act, all males aged 21 to 30. were required to register for military service. (The age limit was later changed to include all men aged 18 to 45) By the end of WWI, some 24 million men had registered, and some 2.8 million had been drafted. ^[3] In fact, more than half of the almost 4.8 million Americans who served in the armed forces were drafted.

Due to the effort to incite patriotic fervor, the World War I had a high success rate, with less than 350,000 men ”dodging” the draft.

The biggest difference between the draft instated by the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the Civil War draft was that replacements could no longer be hired to fight in a person’s place. In the Civil War, people who did not desire to fight could hire a replacement. However, because it was expensive to hire someone, only very rich people could afford to. This resulted in a disproportionately low number of rich men fighting in the war.

However, Section Three of the Selective Service Act of 1917 stated:

No person liable to military service shall hereafter be permitted or allowed to furnish a substitute for such service; nor shall any substitute be received, enlisted, or enrolled in the military service of the United States; and no such person shall be permitted to escape such service or to be discharged therefrom prior to the expiration of his term of service by the payment of money or any other valuable thing whatsoever as consideration his release from military service or liability there to. ^[2]

Because of high levels of discrimination around the time of World War I, Black Americans had to make extra sacrifices. While blacks still fought for their own rights in many places, they were called on to defend the rights of Europeans. Most blacks believed that their sacrifices would be rewarded after the war, and this belief kept them very dedicated in the war effort.

While many were rewarded in Europe, many African Americans were denied the rights they had just fought for overseas upon returning home, and some were subjected to lynching and mob brutality because white workers feared the black veterans would take their jobs. They also feared that they would receive higher income.

• Conscription in the United States
• Selective Service System

1. ^ Selective Service Act. accessdate=2007-4-24
2. ^ ^{a b c} Selective Service Act of 1917. Retrieved on 2007-4-14.
3. ^ Selective Service System: History & Records. Retrieved on 2005-12-27.